In a historic first for Arizona’s cannabis industry, cultivation workers at Trulieve’s Magnolia facility in Phoenix have officially ratified the state’s first-ever union contract for cannabis growers.
The three-year deal, approved Wednesday night, marks a significant milestone not just for Trulieve employees but for Arizona’s broader labor movement. While dispensary workers in the state have previously unionized, this is the first time cannabis cultivation workers — those who grow and process the product — have secured a union agreement.
The deal was brokered by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99, Arizona’s largest private sector union, which represents more than 25,000 workers statewide. Trulieve’s Phoenix-based cultivation team had already made headlines in January 2024 when they voted 37 to 4 to unionize — making them Arizona’s first agricultural union in nearly a quarter-century.
Now, with a contract in hand, they’ve made history again.
“This is the first step into being able to have a career in the industry,” said UFCW Local 99 spokesperson Drake Ridge. “To be able to plan your life — when you’re going to get raises, holiday pay, promotions — that kind of stability is huge in cannabis.”
The contract includes guaranteed wage increases, paid sick leave and vacation, holiday pay, insurance coverage, and disciplinary due process protections. Workers also secured a unique perk — the right to take home cannabis samples each month, a benefit they reportedly fought hard for.
Trulieve’s Magnolia facility sits near Interstate 10 in Phoenix and has been a focal point of Arizona’s rapidly growing cannabis sector. The contract vote also marks only the second time Arizona agricultural workers have secured union recognition since the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board was created in 1993. The last time was in 2000, when tomato workers unionized at the now-closed Eurofresh greenhouses.
